Bahraini foreign minister meets with Syrian regime’s leader, Lebanese premier

By Ibrahim Khazen and Gulsen Topcu

MANAMA, Bahrain (AA) - Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani met with Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, local media reported Sunday.

The meetings were part of preparations for the 33rd Arab League Summit, which will be hosted by Bahrain, the Bahraini state news agency BNA reported.

During his meeting in Syria with Assad, Zayani discussed the summit in May and its agenda. He also met with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad.

Zayani and Mikati also evaluated the summit during their meeting in Lebanon. Mikati expressed his belief that the summit will be successful.

Zayani visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait on April 23-25 and met with officials in the countries on preparations for the summit.

On March 26, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa invited Assad to attend the Arab League Summit.

Assad also attended the Arab League Summit held in Saudi Arabia last year.

Syria's membership in the Arab League was suspended on Nov. 12, 2011 due to the civil war, and the foreign ministers of the Arab League member countries agreed to reinstate its membership at a meeting held last May.​​​​​​​

*Writing by Gozde Bayar